Archives for November 2017

My wife has completed her 2017 annual performance review and she just received her remuneration outcome – higher basic salary and a bonus. This is a better result than 2016, where she received no basic salary increase and a smaller bonus. That’s to be expected given that 2017 is a better year for the economy and bank compared to 2016.

I’m happy for my wife. She stepped up to fill in for a higher level role and worked hard to perform well. Even though she became busier with work, she improved her time-management skills to squeeze in personal training and gym sessions. I can see her evolving in so many ways to be better and I’m pleased.

The longer we work in Singapore, the more we start to expect a year-end bonus for our efforts. It’s our 4th year working here and we still can’t get over how big a consideration the year-end bonus is. We worked for 4 years in Australia and only my wife ever got some form of annual bonus at the bank while I have never received an annual bonus at the accounting firm.

Not that we are complaining over getting more money at the end of a work year in Singapore. But it does become something we have to consider after the bonus is confirmed. What to do with it? We are getting better with practice since it’s our 4th round. Since our financial and personal circumstances have changed every year since 2014, we usually end up using her bonus quite differently each time.

I mean, what her bonus gets allocated to is the same – savings, investments and spending. But the proportions differ depending on the markets and economic performance as well as other factors (e.g. level of retrenchment risk). This time round, we are unlikely to inject more cash funds from the bonus into the equity markets since we are in a bull run. Other than the existing monthly Dollar-Cost Averaging (DCA) of ETFs and contributions to robo-advisors accounts that come from our salary income. No need for adjustments yet.

We should be tapping into her bonus to pay for the ski holiday to Austria in Feb 2018. After all, it’s a big year for my wife as she turns 30 in Apr 2018. Let’s go all out and celebrate it! This should use up some of her bonus and we will leave the remaining bit as savings. I’m only going to let the cash funds of this savings portion flow through to our net worth Google Sheet. Not the spending portion since it has already been set aside.

Now that we have got the plans for her bonus out of the way. Just a few things to take note of for me. My wife’s last parcel of employee bank shares (allocated and dividend reinvestment) from working in Australia are about to vest in Dec 2017. I can finally move all of them out to her brokerage account and potentially sell it in one transaction to minimise trading commission costs. Besides, with the ASX on a high, this might be a good time to consider selling it. It’s not much as the net sale proceeds may only come up to about A$4,500. If this happens, I will no longer have direct exposure to the ASX i.e. no more Australian share portfolio.

Lastly, my own annual performance review is coming up. It’s my first one at a bank and I’m hoping the outcome is better than what I got at the accounting firm previously. I will have to be patient since the entire process can take a few months. I always knew out-earning my wife in the corporate was going to be a challenge. But I’m fine to keep myself close enough so I don’t lag behind by too much. Here goes nothing!

We have a small portfolio in Australia consisting of 2 individual stocks listed on the ASX. One of them is WorleyParsons Limited (ASX: WOR). It is an Australian engineering company that provides project delivery & consulting services to the resources & energy sectors, and complex process industries. Did you understand what this company is doing from the short introduction? Because I didn’t initially and still invested in WOR.

Subsequently after doing some research & analysis, I only acquired a basic level of understanding of what WOR does but wanted to get some indirect exposure to the Australian resources & energy sector. Over the course of a few years while working in Australia and Singapore, the size of the position and unrealised losses in WOR grew as I averaged down blindly with the worsening oil prices. At the lowest point, my unrealised loss position in WOR was A$6,500.

This was my biggest investing mistake and I had basically written it off as my worst investment. I considered selling WOR just to get rid of it and accept the loss. But I held on thinking that the cycle might turn in my favour and the stock price might climb again. Foolish thoughts but it worked. The stock price recently went above my average cost price by a decent margin for me to sell and realise the newly found gains from the upswing. Even an investing idiot like me can be correct at least once over the “long term”.

Name: WorleyParsons Limited (ASX:WOR)

Number of shares sold: 905 (Entire amount)

Sale price: A$15

Net proceeds: A$13,575

Realised profit including dividends collected: A$3,500 or 33%

I’m relieved more than anything else because I had the opportunity to escape the dumbest investing move I made. I’m hoping I will have more opportunities to get out of those next biggest loss making positions I made in the Singapore Oil & Gas and Telecommunications industries. I keep thinking if I hold them long enough for the cycle to turn in my favour, I might still be able to make profits.

This is why I make a terrible individual stock investor. I keep selling my winners early and holding on to my losers. I have a tendency to do the same thing with ETFs when I don’t have enough self-discipline. Which is why I have just shifted into a slow ETF accumulation phase using the Dollar Cost Averaging (DCA) and Value Cost Averaging (VCA) methods. This allows me to avoid having to make the buy/sell decisions that I’m so bad at. I’m just going to keep buying ETFs and vary the purchase level depending on whether I’m in a bull, stagnant, or bear market.

It is a clumsy solution to a fundamental problem that I have. My inability to control my temperament and insufficient self-discipline. It’s a work in progress that I hope to improve on by the time the next bear market comes along. Just so that I don’t panic and start selling my ETFs & stocks or worse, stop the DCA and VCA buying of ETFs. Let’s hope I make it in time!

I finally took sick leave last Thurs and Fri to go see the doctor, get medicine & MC and rest at home. I have been struggling to recover from an initial bout of cough, sore throat and cold but still going to the office. Not because I’m hardworking but because I don’t like staying at home by myself. However, when the illness developed into a secondary and more serious infection, I took my wife’s advice to visit the doctor, take medicine and recover at home for the last 2 working days of the week.

This gave me 4 days of consecutive rest including the weekend. Just what I needed to finally start making a full recovery. I’m glad I listened to my wife’s advice. Only she knows how to get through to me when I’m being stupid. This really could have been a lot worse. As much as I dislike being at home doing nothing, I didn’t realise how much I needed this. I ended up spending most of the 2 days of sick leave sleeping on the sofa near the balcony to get natural air and ventilation instead of using the air-con.

It’s a first for me. Taking 2 consecutive days of sick leave. It’s a sign of me getting older. I fall sick more easily and take longer to get better. The body just can’t take the same amount of punishment and bounce back as easily anymore. I’m glad I have sufficient cover at work to be able to do this. In my previous job, I would have had to do some form of work even when I’m on sick leave. That’s what life was like in an accounting firm. In my current job, I was able to switch off totally for both days. Something that I am so grateful for.

Maybe this is the norm for most of you but I’m just thankful nobody bothered me when I was resting at home. Lying on the sofa also gave me time to think about stuff. What can I say. The body is weak and recovering but the mind is still somewhat active and wondering. First, I was annoyed at how switched off, short-tempered and helpless I was from being sick. At least my wife could still go to work and make her drinks & dinner gatherings with friends while checking in with me occasionally. I didn’t want her to have to take care of me or worse, fall sick and disrupt her plans for the week.

Second, I tried pin-pointing how exactly did I get myself into this situation. I was exercising regularly, watching what I ate, making an effort to sleep more. Maybe it wasn’t enough or maybe it was just the weather changes. I blame the latter for my personal shortcomings way too often. It was probably a combination of dumb decisions I made, especially the one where I didn’t wait until I was full recovered from the first round of illness before pushing myself. You see, when it comes back as a second round to bite you, it’s usually a lot worse. Something I need to be more aware of and take note.

Third, the importance of spousal support. I didn’t lose any income from taking sick leave, which is paid. And I had my wife, who continued working and monitored my condition while living her own life. Having some one watch out for you when you are down is a nice feeling. You worry less, and not surprisingly, recover faster. The positive impact a well-rested mind can have on the body never ceases to amaze me. I can only imagine what’s it like to be sick and lose income while having dependents to support by yourself.

Fourth, I’m finally in a job that I can take time off for annual and sick leave with sufficient cover and support by my colleagues at work. I didn’t have this in my previous job at an accounting firm. Client demands on short notice were constant and getting away wasn’t easy. It still meant you had to be contactable. A work culture cultivated by my previous boss. As much as I appreciated learning from him as a tax partner with all his technical and industry knowledge, I have held this against him for the longest time. This was seen as an expectation without the recognition and reward.

It’s one of the main reasons why most of the working relationships my previous team had with him disintegrated after I left. They have all moved on to other firms except for my previous manager, who had the biggest conflict with him. No idea why she’s still there but I suspect it’s due to personal circumstances. The rest of us have been encouraging her for a while to leave for another job elsewhere but this is probably easier said than done for her.

It’s time for me to go back to work tomorrow. Can’t say I miss it. And I’m sure there’s loads to catch up on after missing 2 days of work last week. But I am looking forward to getting out of the apartment to be busy with something and interact with people. I don’t mind being alone when I’m trying to figure stuff out. But I don’t like being alone for an extended period of time. It sucks and feels like I’m talking to myself all the time. Not good for the mind. I’m glad to be back.

Back in Aug 2017, I wrote about my wife registering for the DBS BYOB Promotion and opening the SAYE Account. One of the benefits I mentioned was that she will receive a S$88 cash gift for having registered by 30 September 2017. This has now been credited into her DBS bank account. The 2% pa bonus interest on her monthly savings of S$3,000 in the SAYE Account has also been credited into her PayLah account.

It’s about time. My wife had to call DBS in September 2017 and check whether the qualifying conditions have been met. Before waiting for another 2 months to finally see the cash gift and bonus interest. Let’s not forget about the other 2% pa bonus interest that is coming one year later. Another reminder of why I continue to have a problem with DBS.

It’s like a feeling of finally getting a reward for putting in all that effort to jump through those hoops and hurdles. More relief than satisfaction of knowing that it didn’t go to waste. DBS should really work on simplifying the requirements and rewarding its customers earlier. Not make them wait anxiously to see if they qualified.

I wonder whether it’s because my wife and I work in banks that result in us being so harsh on them. It might be because we are more exposed to their what they believe to be “customer-centric” but in reality turns out to be “profit-maximising” business practices. Banks are always going to ensure they extract more benefits out from you compared to what they give you in return.

Which is why the best way to protect consumer rights and interests is for you to understand how to work the system. Move your cash funds and investments around where possible to get a better outcome. Creating competition and hurting the banks’ profits is what ensures you get the best deal as a consumer. Otherwise, you will just end up being a number.

Anyway, I have started seeing online reviews of the new DBS Multiplier Account. It does seem to have improve from the previous version. On the landing page at the top, I can see it says No Minimum Salary Credit and No Minimum Credit Card Spend. Then when you get to the interest rate table at the bottom, you work out the total eligible transactions per month has to be above S$2,000 before you qualify for the higher interest rates.

Which suggests realistically there still has to be some sort of minimum transaction level for each category that you qualify to get the higher interest rates. The worst part about this is I actually think it is a better product than the OCBC 360 Account. You just have to get to that conclusion on your own after going through all the terms and conditions to make sure you don’t get caught out by something. Again, a late reward for doing the tricks. Let’s see how this one works out.